BLOGOSPHERE | STUDENT WALKOUT; A Senior Tells Why He Joined the Protest

By ZACH MARLOWE

Published: May 2, 2010

Zach Marlowe, 18, from South Orange, is a senior at Columbia High School in Maplewood. He took part, along with an estimated 200 of his classmates, in the state-wide walk-out on Tuesday, April 27, to protest Gov. Christopher J. Christie's school budget cuts. He recounts the moments when the students started to leave their classrooms to gather on the front lawn of the high school, and explains why he chose to walk out.

When Columbia Cable Network (CCN) showed a shot of students who had already left school, just shortly after 9 a.m., the image was surreal (as the whole day shortly became). The shot inspired me, and a few friends of mine, to walk out -- after we hesitated at the door for a while.

At first I wasn't sure why I was even out there. I even debated going back inside. I knew the reasons for the protest, but I wasn't sure I supported the actual walk-out. After about one period passed, I soon developed a sense of why we were there. And why, in particular, I was there.

I realized that the reason I was out there was because even if the walk-out was not to be a complete success, I felt I needed to keep it from being a complete failure -- an embarrassing and useless waste of time that could be perceived only as civil disobedience. If it were to be done it needed to be done as well as possible.

I charged myself with keeping kids from doing stupid things -- people chanting irrelevant or inappropriate or in some cases dangerous things, such as ''burn the school,'' or ''kill Christie.''

I quickly put a stop to those, but of course not without explaining to the students why it was wrong.

At one point students began banging on the cafeteria windows to get the freshmen eating lunch to join us. That clearly could not happen. I yelled at the students to stop (quite aggressively and impolitely, I might add), as it greatly angered me. We were out there protesting that we don't have enough money; we can't put our school at risk for broken windows that would then need replacing.

Near the end of the school day, our numbers had greatly diminished. Only a few passionate students remained. Even those students who at first appeared so filled with emotion grew tired and retreated to the school, or relented to the heat and exhaustion and sat silently outside.

I tried my hardest to rally people and motivate them once more. This was largely to no avail, with only a few students standing back up and grabbing a sign. Yes, I was the one making the ''get up or go back inside'' calls for those of you who expressed anger at them.

But now to the matter of the walk-out itself. My first goal, as I've said, was merely to keep the demonstration peaceful and functional. But by the beginning of sixth period, I had developed a strong argument as to why these demonstrations did in fact help.

You see, I, like many of my peers at Columbia High School, believe that education is one of (if not the most) important things in our society. Where would we be without those who were properly educated? Where would we be with no schools at all? As cheesy as it sounds, education is our future. The manner in which this generation is educated determines the outcome of our future. And those students who don't realize this clearly need a better educational experience.

Even though private schools are also receiving cuts, it means so much less to them because they're funded mostly by tuition. But not everyone can afford those tuitions. And those are the people who send their children to public school. Governor Christie's budget cuts seriously hurt our public schools.

Paraprofessionals, many of whom I know personally, and some of whom have worked with me, as I have an Individual Education Plan (IEP), will lose their jobs.

There are kids of course, like myself, who don't believe that they need these special services. But there are many who do. And they deserve the same chance at a good education as those students without learning disabilities.

And simple things such as the reduction of supplies like chalk, markers, pens, pencils, staples and other necessary classroom items will be another negative consequence of the cuts.

Not to mention supplies for science classes. Science supplies are expensive. But I believe they're a necessary cost, as many children cannot grasp the concepts in science without hands-on activities, including things like field trips. But you can kiss those good-bye, too.

Advance Placement (AP) classes, at CHS at least, were also affected by the budget cuts. My girlfriend applied to the AP psychology program (as did many others) and was turned down -- not because she didn't have good enough grades, but solely due to class size constraints.

There is to be only one AP psychology class next year with about 30 students in the class, which leaves nearly half the students who applied (most of whom will be seniors and not have another shot at this class) out in the cold -- preventing some students from reaching their potential and having the education system actually work for them to get them where they want to be.